Sunday, July 27, 2014

With all eyes on Gaza, Israel green-lights oil wells in occupied Golan

While the eyes of the world are distracted by the appalling spectacle being played out in Gaza, Israel quietly gave the go-ahead to a controversial oil exploration program on occupied Syrian territory.

Presumably the Syrian leadership is too preoccupied by more pressing contingencies to raise much of a fuss.

Genie Energy, a US company with links to former VP Dick Cheney, has spent years lobbying the Israeli government for permission to access the potentially lucrative oil reserves in the region.

The fact that those reserves legally belong to Syria, and not to Israel, does not seem to be a concern, but it should be.